Contact . Austin Chronicle . 01-26-98

Contact

DIRECTED BY: Robert Zemeckis

REVIEWED: 01-26-98

Contact may be the most thought-provoking video of the year, and not necessarily for the reasons you think. Shrouded in litigious controversy, you've got to respect any filmmaker that has the guts to cast pretty boy Matthew McConaughey as a "spiritual advisor" and -- even more startling -- Rob Lowe as an American conservative leader. Adapted from Carl Sagan's book (and released shortly after his death), Contact is an epic, 2.5 hour space story on the scale of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and it's nearly as compelling. In this post-modern fable, we are asked to choose between science and religion, with the focus on the question: When aliens send us plans to build a space-travel device, who will be the one to go for the ride? While Contact's worm holes lead to some inevitable plot holes, the movie still bears viewing, especially for Foster's earnest (and Golden Globe-nominated) performance as the one who first receives the incoming signal. But perhaps Contact's most curious and unintended puzzler comes from its dazzling opening sequence: If we really are beaming Spice Girls tunes into space, what are the aliens going to think about that?

--Christopher Null

Full Length Reviews
Contact
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Contact

Other Films by Robert Zemeckis
Forrest Gump

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